Is The Whole World Anti-Single?....or maybe it's just me! Four years ago, when my relationship of 15 years broke up, I suddenly found myself single and alone at age 48. I had been through 2 long term relationships in my life, each relationship lasting 15 years, and suddenly, for the first time I was alone...at age 48! I got married for the first time at age 17 and had been with a man ever since and now...I was alone and terrified!

The good news? ...The terror wore off rather quickly and after a very short time I realized that I actually LIKED being alone! For the first time in my life I had my own space! My very own little apartment, my very own retreat in a very chaotic world! Safely inside my very own apartment I could do whatever I wanted to do....I could watch the TV shows I wanted to watch! I could read all day long if I wanted to! No longer would I have to answer the question, "Hon, where's my clean shirts?" No longer would I have to spend half my day wondering what I was going to make for dinner! I could eat anything I wanted to eat, and check it out....I could even pick up the phone and have my dinner delivered to me! I was beginning to enjoy this single thing!

The hardest part of being single is finding other single friends. Everyone is in a relationship or is married...and let me warn you right now that your married friends are not going to be content now that you are single. They're going to try to fix you up with anyone they can think of to save you from this horrible fate! And the questions.....oh the questions..... "Surely you're not happy?"....."Don't you get lonely?".... Sure, I get lonely sometimes but you know what? I used to get lonely when I was IN a relationship too, (any married woman will be able to relate) only now, I don't have to worry about why I'm lonely. I know I'm lonely because I am alone and that this feeling will pass. Before, when I was in a relationship I had to worry about why I was lonely, or what was wrong with the relationship?

The reason I'm writing today is to build a bridge with other singles who are brave enough to stand up and say, "I'm single and I'm loving it!" and to encourage other "New" singles that life is not over......in fact, it's just beginning as a single person. Now is YOUR time to discover who YOU really are!

I have a standard answer to the question..."Don't you want to be in a relationship?" I simply reply..."No Thanks, I'd rather have a root canal without anesthesia." I find that upon hearing this answer...people tend to lose the urge to "fix-me-up" with their relatives.